Episode 94
As Rachel left the drawing room with a reluctant face, following the maid, Mrs. Wex naturally came and sat in the seat her daughter had occupied.
The young Philip, now said to be past ten years old, rather wore a willing expression, as though things had worked out for the better, and sat pressed even closer to his mother's side.
Mrs. Wex put her arm around Philip's shoulder and patted him, apologizing for her daughter's rashness and carelessness. Sasha answered, “It's all right,” as if it were nothing.
Sir Joseph was no longer even looking in Sasha's direction. He seemed to be barely keeping his seat out of affection for his sister and nephew alone, and he nervously fumbled through his inner pocket as though he wanted to smoke right that instant.
Only Lady Joseph watched her husband's cues with a troubled expression, looking back and forth between Sasha and Mrs. Wex.
“This is Mrs. Hudson. She's Edmond's aunt, and she devoted more than thirty years to teaching at Saint Mary's boarding school.”
Regardless of whether it was appropriate, Mrs. Wex introduced her family to Sasha.
The conversation naturally flowed in a manner led by Mrs. Wex and Mrs. Hudson. Lady Joseph found this slightly odd.
Miss Grayson, or rather, today's protagonist who had now become Mrs. Pincher, responded readily enough whenever people addressed her, but she hardly brought up stories of her own accord.
She seemed content to merely listen to whatever the rest of them were talking about.
“And the one playing chess over there is my husband. The child sitting beside me is my second son, Philip.”
Mrs. Wex was polite.
Unlike Rachel, who had sat down and rather hastily rattled on about anything in her eagerness to get close to Sasha, she was a much more composed person.
She smoothly introduced her family members to Sasha one by one, like flowing water, and then conveyed her pleasure at being able to attend this wedding.
“Anyway, that Isaac getting married. My goodness. Even after receiving the letter, I could hardly believe it.”
When Mrs. Hudson muttered these words in the now-considerably-relaxed atmosphere, the mood froze over once more; but when Sasha answered with a composed face, “When I first saw him, I never imagined such a thing would happen either,” in a joking tone, several people began forcing laughter as if they had been waiting for this, and the moment was smoothed over.
Sir Joseph's patience ran out right there. He informed his wife, “I shall go smoke,” as if issuing notice, and left the room without so much as casting a glance in Sasha's direction.
Mrs. Hudson belatedly rolled her eyes as if gauging the situation, and Mrs. Wex looked at her sister sternly and said, “You must apologize later.”
‘To whom? To Sir Joseph? Or to Isaac, the person concerned?’
Sasha did not react to the exchange, which seemed almost spoken for her to hear.
The conversation jumped about somewhat haphazardly, as if trying to salvage the situation too late.
It moved restlessly from books they enjoyed reading lately, to popular plays, to how luxurious and lavish the boutiques in the capital were compared to the provinces. Mrs. Hudson chattered especially hard, almost pitiably so.
Then Philip, as if unable to withstand his mother's prodding, rose from his seat and played the piano clumsily, then returned to sit beside his mother again with a bashful face amidst everyone's applause.
Around then, Mr. Wex stopped playing chess and came to sit near them. The moment he saw Sasha, he abruptly brought up the fact that one of his friends had once met Lady Rosalyn professionally. It was his own way of breaking the ice.
As if to say the basic pleasantries were sufficient by now, he moved on to talk of business.
Regardless of Mrs. Wex's hints, he brought up a pearl business he had newly started with his friend; his intentions were so obvious that even Mrs. Hudson, who was among the least perceptive of them, shook her head.
“Let's not talk about such things even on a day like this, dear.”
“How many times a year do we see each other? Besides, you never know. Perhaps I might be able to teach Isaac a thing or two about business…….”
Mr. Wex coughed exaggeratedly and glanced sideways at Sasha.
“Ah, of course, it may be somewhat unfamiliar to Miss Grayson, having spent all her time nursing her grandmother's illness. A rare, commendable…….”
Mrs. Wex slipped her hand beneath his coat and pinched his thigh hard, but Mr. Wex merely furrowed his brow for a moment and kept talking.
“Anyway, come to me anytime and I can teach you various things. Isaac has lived solely as a soldier, so he must be inexperienced in this area.”
When Sasha gave no response whatsoever, rendering his carefully broached words pointless, Mr. Wex cleared his throat with a look of wounded pride.
“Well, it's not an interesting topic for the ladies. Does anyone have something else to discuss?”
Mr. Wex looked around at the others with a visibly disappointed expression, as if to say the business talk had fallen through.
As if she had been waiting for this, Mrs. Hudson opened her mouth again.
“Very well. Then let us talk about the wedding. That wedding dress—it was so luxurious and splendid. And what about the ensemble? I don't know where you found such people, but it was the finest performance I've heard in recent times. If only the circumstances were different, I would have enjoyed it without worry, truly.”
Mrs. Wex looked at her with a startled expression, but Mrs. Hudson, completely unaware, kept speaking.
“If only Edmond were here on a day like this. He would have loved it so. He loved music as much as I do.”
Edmond, Edmond.
Sasha was now at the point of developing calluses on her ears from hearing that name so often.
Mrs. Hudson belatedly covered her mouth with her hand, her face cringing.
“That's not something to talk about on a day like this, is it?”
“Your husband's deceased elder brother. It is a great pity.”
Instead of contradicting Mrs. Hudson by telling her it wasn't so, Sasha answered dryly, expressing a moderate degree of regret.
It meant, “It's a pitiful situation, but enough.” However, Mrs. Hudson seemed to understand it the opposite way.
“He was such a kind, good child. From the first time he saw Diane, he followed her like his own mother, and he looked after Isaac so attentively. He was handsome, intelligent, and his weak constitution was a slight flaw. But what does it matter to be prone to minor ailments in times like these?”
“…….”
“He was truly very popular too. If Miss Grayson had seen him, you would have taken a liking to him at first sight. Rachel is right. If only he hadn't passed away like that, today he would be…….”
Fortunately, Mrs. Hudson's words did not continue further. It was because Mrs. Wex had firmly stepped on her foot.
Sasha, who had been muttering inwardly about how fed up she was, smiled softly at Mrs. Hudson's words. It was an exasperated laugh.
‘If only Edmond hadn't died.’ Those words simultaneously sounded like, ‘If only Isaac were not here.’
And Isaac had probably heard countless words carrying such undertones from these people. Enough to make him sick of it.
And was it only these people?
Sasha saw that the deceased Edmond must have had an immense influence on the formation of Isaac's strangely insecure and defensive personality.
Even in death, Edmond had left behind people who praised him like ghosts.
‘……How dreadful.’
Sasha muttered inwardly with an expressionless face.
“Stop drinking.”
Mrs. Wex belatedly snatched the glass from her sister.
“Oh. So then…….”
It was Lady Joseph who broke the awkward atmosphere.
She had not joined in this conversation from the start and had only been looking toward the door her husband had exited; then, as if deciding it wouldn't do, she broke the silence.
“Anyway, it was a truly wonderful wedding, was it not? It reminded me of the day I married my husband.”
Sasha looked at Lady Joseph and answered as if she had been waiting for this.
“Thank you for your words of comfort, madam.”
Then, with an incomparably calm face, she spoke in a deliberate tone.
“However, your wedding could not have been as shabby as the one I held today.”
Lady Joseph reflexively tried to answer, “Of course not,” and barely stopped herself.
Sasha continued with an indifferent-looking face, regardless.
“Of course, I had gauged to some extent the scale of the wedding, having heard it would be one held by the Count with only close relatives. But that was not the issue. Did you see those gloomy decorations? I did try my best to choose from what was available, but the options given to me from the start were nothing but such things.”
“……Ah.”
Lady Joseph let out a sigh with a flustered face.
“If such things are the Count's taste, I have nothing to say, but I wonder. It did not seem so to me. The tablecloth and curtains, even the pillar decorations placed at the entrance—every single one. I am by no means disparaging the style or trends of this place. I was merely disappointed in many ways…….”
“…….”
“Listening to everything you've said, I more or less understand why. This wedding was meant to be neither splendid nor bright, was it not? Much like a funeral.”
A long silence followed. For several seconds, no one responded to Sasha's words.
The clatter of Lady Pennon, who had been dozing with her head buried deep, lifting her teacup only to set it back down echoed emptily.
Miss Grayson, who had shown only the barest reaction with an inscrutable face and merely been listening to everyone's talk, looked at them all. With the face of an incomparably selfish, immature, typical heiress from the rumors—exactly as Mrs. Wex had predicted before coming here—she swept her gaze over them haughtily.
“I simply cannot understand why I must listen to such talk on this fine day. I've already endured seeing several people dressed in drab clothes.”
Sasha continued with a face that looked utterly unreasonable.
“Honestly, I'm quite annoyed.”
***
The conversation with the Count lasted nearly two hours. The main topics were, of course, the inherited property and the succession of the title.
In Isaac's presence, the Count drafted a petition regarding the title succession to the Queen, stamped it personally, and then sealed it elaborately with the family seal bearing the house's crest.
They then discussed dryly the wedding to be held in the capital and the matter of their future residence. To anyone watching, it looked more like a business conversation than a dialogue between father and son.
After that formal conversation, upon being told he could leave, Isaac rose from his seat as if he had been waiting and walked out the door. Judging by the time, dinner was clearly already over, and they were likely gathered in that spacious drawing room.
The drawing room door was open. The moment Isaac approached it with a puzzled expression, he narrowly collided with someone who was just coming out. Isaac belatedly recognized her and quickly caught her by the shoulders.
“Are you all right, Aunt?”
Lady Joseph belatedly recognized Isaac and opened her eyes wide. She looked somewhat distracted.
“Oh. Captain Pincher. Oh, that is…… The tea gathering has already ended. Everyone has gone up to their respective bedrooms. I must hurry to my husband as well…….”
“Is that so.”
When Isaac answered indifferently, Lady Joseph looked at him with a face that seemed, for some reason, bursting with things to say. However, as she was in a hurry to get to her husband, she hurried past him the moment Isaac let her go.
Isaac looked around the drawing room where people remained here and there. Sasha was nowhere to be seen.
As he walked inside, people's gazes fixed upon him as if they had been waiting. Every last one of them stared at him strangely, with a look that was almost meaningful.
Since they were people who had gathered to congratulate him, he could not express his displeasure, so Isaac pretended not to notice.
“Isaac.”
Isaac turned his head toward the voice coming from the corner. Lady Pennon, sipping rum from an elegant teacup, looked up at him.
“You missed quite a sight.”
“……Pardon?”
It was the most fun I've had in a while. Hehe.
The old woman cackled regardless of whether Isaac asked what she meant.